Kev Rowland
Released in 2014, Suicide Silence’s fourth album ‘You Can’t Stop Me” was the first without original lead vocalist Mitch Lucker who was killed in a motoboke crash in 2012, and the first to feature Hernan "Eddie" Hermida of All Shall Perish. Deathcore is a genre which seems to polarise quite a few people, and I note that Encyclopaedia Metallum do not include the genre on their site even though anyone who does not understand the subgenres of metal would think this should be there. For me it is still down to the band themselves and I have enjoyed some deathcore bands, and others not so much. I did once walk out of an event to get a beer when Suicide Silence were playing, not because I disliked the genre, but I disliked the band.
All the lyrics were written by Hermida apart from two (including the title) which were by Lucker, and it is obvious the band had a lot to prove with this album as it is always difficult to keep going when a key member dies, yet it is not unusual for a band to come back with their best ever release (think ‘Back In Black’). The stand out track on this is “Control” which features none other than George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher providing his dulcet tones which is strangely reminiscent on Dom Lawson on the live "Planet Smasher". There is a high energy throughout the album, and a great deal of complexity, but the band were obviously incredible conscious of paying homage to Mitch, and re-recorded "Ending Is the Beginning" from their debut EP with Hermida putting himself out there. I am not a huge fan of Suicide Silence, and am unlikely to change that based on this, but this is the best album of theirs I have come across and if like me you have rapidly passed them by then this may well be the place to start.